Innovative city construction is a key measure to implement the national innovation-driven strategy, it is a worth investigating whether innovative city construction can promote Chinese-style modernization. We performed theoretical analysis on how innovative city construction affects the internal mechanism of Chinese-style modernization, based on a sample of 281 cities in China from 2004 to 2021. The innovative city pilot policy is treated as a quasi-natural experiment and the multi-period difference-in-differences model is employed to empirically examine the effects and mechanisms through which the innovative city construction influences Chinese-style modernization. The results show that innovative city construction has a significant driving effect on Chinese-style modernization. Heterogeneity analysis indicate that cities to the east of the Hu Huanyong Line exhibit high administrative level, strong talent agglomeration capabilities, and well-developed information technology, and the driving effect of innovative city construction on Chinese-style modernization is stronger compared to cities to the west of the line. Mechanism analysis reveals that innovative city construction can promote Chinese-style modernization by unleashing innovation and entrepreneurial effects. However, the extent of these effects may vary heterogeneously depending on the urban locations, administrative level, talent aggregation capabilities, and informatization level. This study enriches in theory the relevant research on influencing factors for Chinese-style modernization and on evaluation of innovative city construction effects. In practice, it not only provides decision support for the further promotion of innovative city pilots but also offers policy implications for accelerating the process of Chinese-style modernization.